HEALTH ALERTS

Basketball nets

Four manufacturers, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are recalling the nets on 10.1 million toy basketball sets because children could strangle on the unhooked openings in the nets.

Since 1988, CPSC and the manufacturers have received 20 reports of children younger than age 5 getting their heads and necks caught in the nets. In 1992, an 18-month-old child died after becoming entangled in a partly unhooked net. The CPSC urges consumers to immediately inspect their toy basketball sets for nets that can unhook from the rim or have knots that slide.